Have a little Faith

Many of you may already be familiar with the story of Faith, the two-legged canine sensation. But because it packs such a wallop in the warm-fuzzies department, I thought it warranted a quick re-posting here.

Faith the dog was born just before Christmas in 2002. She came into the world with three legs — two healthy hind legs and one abnormal front leg that needed to be amputated. She could not walk when she was born. Not even her own mother wanted her.

Jude Stringfellow’s son Reuben discovered the three-legged dog (she was part of a friend’s dog’s litter that contained several pups with birth deformities) and immediately took her home. The original owner had contemplated having the pup, who was the only survivor from the litter, euthanized because of her missing limbs and subsequent inability to walk. Jude took one look at this unique dog and was determined train her to get around on her own. She named her “Faith.”

In the beginning, Jude put Faith on a skateboard to allow her to experience motion and balance. Later, she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward to get Faith to stand up and jump around.

The other dogs in Jude’s home also helped to encourage Faith to walk. After six months, Faith learned to balance on her two hind legs and to jump forward and backwards. With further training, she began to walk upright like a human being.

Now Faith walks everywhere, and, not surprisingly, no matter where she goes, she stops people in their tracks. Faith even has her own movie deal for a film scheduled for release in 2010!